January Update!!

Hello fellow water enthusiasts. Wow great snow last night—more precipitation for the watershed, who could ask for more! And cold northerly breezes to slow the evaporation, a trickle here, a trickle there. It all adds up.

It’s a quiet time of year here in East Central Wisconsin. I love it. Great sleeping weather, time to read and think about the next water-monitoring season---Our work is before us.

And time to find Grant monies to buy more devices for water-monitoring, fund-raising to get supplies for our purpose of testing water throughout our place of being, and rejuvenating our core membership because we want to keep a pulse on our group and be attentive to their needs. (If you know of funding resources we should contact please let us know!

While all that’s going forward, here’s a few articles about water and things going on elsewhere. Maybe you follow some of this too, if not, you may find it surprising what others are doing regarding the water resources where they live.

Check these out in your spare time---
1. Keokuk, Iowa 20101231: http://easterniowabusiness.com/2010/12/31/open-valve-causes-syrup-to-reach-mississippi-river-in-keokuk/

2. iPhone App from IBM (I thought this might be of interest as we move to the End Of Year report.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_--6KAptDL4

3. Water Monitoring at Walnut Creek in Austin, TX http://upperwalnutcreekaustin.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/december-2010-monitoring/

4. From Idaho: http://environment.change.org/blog/view/can_the_campaign_for_clean_water_in_idaho_succeed
We're talking about employing devices like these here, are you interested in using them?

5. Minnesota: http://minnesotacornerstone.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/state-concludes-special-atrazine-review-concludes-current-regulations-are-doing-the-job/

If you see anything which you want to discuss, please comment, we want to share your ideas.

Elsewhere in Wisconsin:

1. Wisconsin River Blue-Green Algae:

http://www.marketplacemagazine.com/blogs/blog1.php/2010/12/16/dnr-spearheading-effort-to-improve-wisco

2. Valley Stewardship Network http://common-breath.com/?p=970

3. Madison: http://dailyreporter.com/blog/2010/12/29/cities-scramble-to-test-water-for-chromium-6/ and
http://coalgeology.com/epa-to-develop-monitoring-and-sampling-programs-specifically-for-chromium-6/10027/
4. West Virginia: Any relation to C-6? Do you know about this?
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/watchdog/2011/01/04/new-study-details-c8-in-private-water-wells/
5. Canada’s Oil Sands: Alberta, CA http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Oilsands+monitoring+inadequate+federal+panel/4009362/story.html

and http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/12/20/edmonton-water-monitoring-alberta-system.html?ref=rss

So much going on. Happy New Year. Watch for Future Water Monitoring Training and Conference Dates.
Don’t forget to attend http://www.cwtu.org Trout Fest Agenda, February 26, an all day (Open House) get-together to visit happenings with cold-water resources in Central Wisconsin, maybe talk about fishing, too.